By Brendan Anderson

With the future of the Irish peace process poised delicately on a knife-edge, Republicans are admitting to being less than happy with the undiplomatic language of one of the main participants, DUP leader Ian Paisley.

Despite the prospect of being involved in a historic peace settlement, Paisley has insisted on insulting his political opponents in Sinn Fein at every turn.

Asked recently if he was attempting to humiliate Republicans by demanding photographic evidence of the destruction of IRA weapons, Paisley replied, “They deserve to be humiliated.”

And twice within the last few days, he made relatively upbeat comments about political progress only to conclude with an insult to Republicans.

At a dinner party on Saturday, he told supporters, “The IRA needs to be humiliated and they need to wear their sackcloth and ashes, not in a backroom but openly. 

“And we have no apology to make for the stand we are taking. I say look at the heartache the IRA has brought to the countless homes across the province. The pride of Republicans cannot be allowed to prevent progress any longer.”

On Tuesday, despite being previously upbraided by Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams, Paisley repeated his assertion that Republicans “must wear sackcloth and ashes” as a sign of repentance for their actions.

While many observers tend to laugh off Paisley’s behavior as, “Big Ian just being Big Ian,” Republicans say his new remarks are ungracious and offensive. 

Paisley’s comments and perceived arrogance are also distinctly unhelpful at a time when the Republican leadership is working to hold the movement together during a period which has proved difficult and painful for many members.

Committed grassroots Republicans opine that decommissioning of IRA weapons and the standing-down of the organization is traumatic enough without the accompaniment of Paisley’s triumphalism and tirade of insults.

An indication of the sour atmosphere caused by the old clergyman’s remarks came Tuesday in Dublin when Adams was asked to comment on Paisley’s latest jibe.

Emerging from a meeting with Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, Adams first expressed concern that the DUP was dragging its feet in finalizing the peace deal. The timeframe, he said, was “stretching.”

Asked about Paisley’s most recent comments, Adams described them as “intemperate and highly insulting.” They did not, he said, make it any easier to finalize the deal.

“There has been a lot of anger expressed by not just Republicans but indeed the broader Nationalist community in relation to the comments. Republicans are not better than anybody else, but neither are we any worse,” Adams said.

“Republicans are decent people. For years we have had the politics of political humiliation. Attempts were made to humiliate our people in prisons, in interrogation centers, in our streets and in our homes. It was a policy that utterly failed.

“I would suggest that we all need to be temperate in our language. We all need to start treating people as we would have them treat us. We need a little more humility rather than humiliation. 

“We are not about the politics of humiliation, we are about the politics of liberation,” Adams said.